Look back and I first posted in this thread back in feb of 2010. I'm not trying to boost my ego at all. I posted not that long ago a video of me doing the basics with the SR (hover all orientations, piro in one spot) which I mentioned that I mastered that with the HBFP before going to a CP.

I explained my history with RC heli's and because of that I showed that I can do a decent amount with the Blade SR so............ maybe those ideas might help at some new rc heli pilots. I spend alot of time learing and working on the basics but I also have fun too. That video was a fun video because the basics video above is kinda boring. I don't have any magic answers but what can I do to help?

Actually 12 X 12 without obstacles should be fine. Believe it or not, I feel the key to learning how to fly these things is to first be able to hover it in as small a square of airspace as you can. Once you gain this control, you can then have the better ability to stop it from getting away from you. If you can get to the point where you can keep the V2 inside a 6 X 6 X 6 imaginary box, now you're cooking.

Not that I'd recommend this to anyone else, but I learned to tail-in hover my HBFP (V1?) in my 5 x 6 kitchen. Now I have a 23 x 14 living room for my mSR.

[On Topic]
Smashed my SR last Summer when I lost control working on nose-in hover. Finally have all the parts to fix it but I'd like to use my DX6i instead of the RTF controller. Does anyone remember which post(s) in this thread cover DX6i settings (or can point to a good search tutorial)?

And you think this wasn't their plan all along.. Just about give the heli away and make all profit from selling parts..

I like all my E-Flight purchases. The only thing I can complain about is how they are marketing the BSR. There is no way you are going from a MSR to an SR and have any success. You are just going to crash and crash. I even had the 120SR. But I will admit I wasn't flying it outside. I was just using it in the living room and using the SIM to get ready for the SR. Well, I see now, that plan was doomed from the start. But live and learn. I am going to really work hard on the Honey Bee FP V2. And I am going to use RADD's first 2 lessons on my SR and repeat them until I have them down and then move on to the next lessons. It's nice that honey bee fp uses the same batteries as the SR. I really didn't want to have to buy more batteries. I have 7 batteries for the SR. And I have 4 batteries for my airplane.

Not that I'd recommend this to anyone else, but I learned to tail-in hover my HBFP (V1?) in my 5 x 6 kitchen. Now I have a 23 x 14 living room for my mSR.

[On Topic]
Smashed my SR last Summer when I lost control working on nose-in hover. Finally have all the parts to fix it but I'd like to use my DX6i instead of the RTF controller. Does anyone remember which post(s) in this thread cover DX6i settings (or can point to a good search tutorial)?

Thanks for the help!

Here's some settings I found on this site. You'll have to play around to find what you really like though. I hope you have better luck than I.

These settings will give you a very stable flying helicopter but when you switch it to Idle Up, the tail will become more rigid and it will be a lot more responsive. Since the head speed is fairly high, it will also be more stable. I removed all weights so that is where a good deal of the responsiveness comes from. Once you become very familiar with the DX6i, you will note that I do not use individual switches for dual rates and expo but use them tied to one switch. It simplifies the operation of the transmitter and keeps hunting for switches to a minimum. Do not increase the swash settings from what they are or you will get binding of the head. The numbers for the Aileron and Elevator portions of the swash settings can be decreased to soften the response of the sticks but do not decrease them to lower than 70%. Hope this helps.

There is no way you are going from a MSR to an SR and have any success.

There are many that have done just that and one of the past employee's of the LHS did very well going from an mSR to the SR. He flew the mSR that was the shop demo and spent a good deal of time on the RealFLight simulator at the shop. He does not try to fly it like it was an airplane and keeps a tight reign on how far he gets it away from him. He does move it around a little bit more than just a hover but since he is in school, he does not want to outfly himself and repair the heli because of an avoidable accident. I have only had five accidents with mine, three with the original TX (too mushy on the response and switched it to my DX6i), one where I went beyond my ability at the time, and one where the blade tips touched the ground on a hard landing and that cost me a feathering shaft and damaged the tips of the carbon blades (replaced them, anyhow).

I spent way more than you have on my first FP heli, in fact so much so that I could have bought a T-Rex 450 Pro, complete with batteries, and ready to fly. I did not give up as I really wanted to fly helicopters which was the only part of RC that I was not successful at controlling. I now have a baker's dozen but I am not going beyond a 450 size helicopter for lack of space. Keep at it and I know you are paying attention as you are passing on the settings I gave you. Take care and keep going.

There are many that have done just that and one of the past employee's of the LHS did very well going from an mSR to the SR. He flew the mSR that was the shop demo and spent a good deal of time on the RealFLight simulator at the shop. He does not try to fly it like it was an airplane and keeps a tight reign on how far he gets it away from him. He does move it around a little bit more than just a hover but since he is in school, he does not want to outfly himself and repair the heli because of an avoidable accident. I have only had five accidents with mine, three with the original TX (too mushy on the response and switched it to my DX6i), one where I went beyond my ability at the time, and one where the blade tips touched the ground on a hard landing and that cost me a feathering shaft and damaged the tips of the carbon blades (replaced them, anyhow).

I spent way more than you have on my first FP heli, in fact so much so that I could have bought a T-Rex 450 Pro, complete with batteries, and ready to fly. I did not give up as I really wanted to fly helicopters which was the only part of RC that I was not successful at controlling. I now have a baker's dozen but I am not going beyond a 450 size helicopter for lack of space. Keep at it and I know you are paying attention as you are passing on the settings I gave you. Take care and keep going.

Don

Don,

Thank you. I appreciate your words. I am going to take it slow and work as well as I can with everything I have. I believe I now have the tools I will need to be successful. If I can just keep my enthusiasm in check. I really enjoy this hobby, and I am like a child that wants to run before I can walk. I have now suffered some "injuries" and have learned some very valuable lessons. Like I stated earlier, I am going to start trying to hover the Honey Bee FP V2 and see how well I can do with that. I will still practice with my 120SR. I have a lot of batteries for all my heli's. About 7 or 8 per heli, so I should be fine for practicing. But I will also use RADD's directions and work with my SR on the ground and try and master tail position and such. Mainly I want to do the first 2 lessons quite a few times, and then move on to lesson 3.

Thank you again for your help. I am going to get this, I really am. And yes, I am trying to follow directions as best I can. There are A LOT of different settings people have posted for the BSR. It can sure lead to information overload. I spent a lot of time reading, and while knowledge is power, experience in the real thing has to speak for itself too. I was working on flying my 120SR in my living room last night. Trying to fly around in a circle in my living with no more than about a 6 foot diameter circle, as that's all the room I have until that darn tree comes down, and all the christmas stuff is put away.

I like all my E-Flight purchases... There is no way you are going from a MSR to an SR and have any success. You are just going to crash and crash...

I have a flying buddy had a smooth transition from MSR to BSR, when he bought the 120SR after flying the BSR, it was too easy for him. He did fly serveral packs daily. I had a disaster first flight of the stock BSR, after repair, the 2nd flight turned out pretty good, so far I have logged over 100 flights, had a few crashes, here's the 2nd flight video:

I have a flying buddy had a smooth transition from MSR to BSR, when he bought the 120SR after flying the BSR, it was too easy for him. He did fly serveral packs daily. I had a disaster first flight of the stock BSR, after repair, the 2nd flight turned out pretty good, so far I have logged over 100 flights, had a few crashes, here's the 2nd flight video:

Well I guess I am the odd man out here then. I just don't think, for most people the BSR is a good transition from the MSR. And I think most people here would agree with me. There are a few who seem naturally born with the skills, then there is people like me who just don't have them. Either that or I had a defective BSR. I don't think that is likely. But I have one coming tomorrow. But it also looks like rain for the next few days. So all I will be able to do it spool it up in my living room and follow RADD's directions.

I'll get this. I don't know if this matters or not. But I have only been flying since the middle of October. Maybe I am slow, I don't know. My first was the MSR and it took me a bit to get use to it as it was my first RC Helicopter, Then I got the MCX2, and the 120SR. Now I am getting a HB FP V2, and a new SR coming tomorrow as I smashed my old one. Bad me. But I have calmed down since then. I think I might have a fighting chance now, but you never know. I am going to go slow and see where I end up.

Well I guess I am the odd man out here then. I just don't think, for most people the BSR is a good transition from the MSR. And I think most people here would agree with me. There are a few who seem naturally born with the skills, then there is people like me who just don't have them. Either that or I had a defective BSR. I don't think that is likely. But I have one coming tomorrow. But it also looks like rain for the next few days. So all I will be able to do it spool it up in my living room and follow RADD's directions.

NBHU,

No, you're not the odd man out. I got my SR when they first hit the shelves, and have been following these threads since the beginning. Sure - some transitioned well from the mSR, a few flew it with just sim practice, and a select few were probably born with the instinct to fly helis. But the majority of those I know and those who bother to post on these threads and the threads on some of the heli-specific sites did not find the SR to be an easy step up from the mSR.

The mSR was my first heli, and after a few hundred mSR flights and a lot of sim-time, I managed to learn to hover the SR without crashing (so far). My first few flights were best described as sheer terror (or about as close as one can get to that when flying RC). I was frustrated! After all, I had been flying fixed-wing for over 25 years, and was used to flying warbirds, 1/4-scale, and aerobatic ships; but this little heli was all over the place! I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. My flights consisted of 10-20 sec 'bunny hops', which were usually followed by my hands shaking so badly that I couldn't fly again for a few minutes or so. I just kept at it until finally, the shakes disappeared. After awhile, I could kinda-sorta control it - say within a 20' box, and could even hover-out a whole pack without getting the shakes. But I always felt like I was 'chasing the heli', instead of commanding it. I tried idle-up and I turned the headspeed knob wide-open. That was better, but I soon felt that same old 'chasing the heli' feeling. I knew that the mushy programming of the stock transmitter was already getting in the way of my learning. I had a Spektrum module for my mid-90's Futaba 8UAF, but the 8UAF doesn't support eCCPM. So, I bit the bullet and upgraded to a new tx. MY LHS owner, and avid heli guy, helped me get the new tx set up properly, and then he flew my SR & did some 3D with it to be sure it was ready to go. We set it up so that in normal it was sort of mellow, but not mushy. Idle-up 1 was set up much crisper, and in idle-up 2, the throttle was maxed across the board & full-stick pitch was also maxed. That made all the difference in the world. It was as if I had a different heli. I finally felt like I was in control. I then had the confidence to practice my hover skills in the wind. I eventually got to the point where I felt comfortable in winds up to 15 MPH. However...after ~90 hours of stick-time, I have yet to fly a circuit. I'm still hovering around. I decided to take it slow because I hate breaking stuff, but I think taking it that slow made me even more nervous about crashing - which prevented me from progressing beyond my comfort zone. Kinda goofy - given that my first few flights were way beyond my comfort zone, and I managed to get beyond that. I am finally just about comfortable enough to try flying some FFF circuits.

So, a few of us may have been quick to learn to hover, but we're much slower at getting the hang of forward flight.

I can tell that you want this badly. A strong desire and determination are the most important things to have when learning something new. You've got the most important part already.

No, you're not the odd man out. I got my SR when they first hit the shelves, and have been following these threads since the beginning. Sure - some transitioned well from the mSR, a few flew it with just sim practice, and a select few were probably born with the instinct to fly helis. But the majority of those I know and those who bother to post on these threads and the threads on some of the heli-specific sites did not find the SR to be an easy step up from the mSR.

The mSR was my first heli, and after a few hundred mSR flights and a lot of sim-time, I managed to learn to hover the SR without crashing (so far). My first few flights were best described as sheer terror (or about as close as one can get to that when flying RC). I was frustrated! After all, I had been flying fixed-wing for over 25 years, and was used to flying warbirds, 1/4-scale, and aerobatic ships; but this little heli was all over the place! I just couldn't seem to get the hang of it. My flights consisted of 10-20 sec 'bunny hops', which were usually followed by my hands shaking so badly that I couldn't fly again for a few minutes or so. I just kept at it until finally, the shakes disappeared. After awhile, I could kinda-sorta control it - say within a 20' box, and could even hover-out a whole pack without getting the shakes. But I always felt like I was 'chasing the heli', instead of commanding it. I tried idle-up and I turned the headspeed knob wide-open. That was better, but I soon felt that same old 'chasing the heli' feeling. I knew that the mushy programming of the stock transmitter was already getting in the way of my learning. I had a Spektrum module for my mid-90's Futaba 8UAF, but the 8UAF doesn't support eCCPM. So, I bit the bullet and upgraded to a new tx. MY LHS owner, and avid heli guy, helped me get the new tx set up properly, and then he flew my SR & did some 3D with it to be sure it was ready to go. We set it up so that in normal it was sort of mellow, but not mushy. Idle-up 1 was set up much crisper, and in idle-up 2, the throttle was maxed across the board & full-stick pitch was also maxed. That made all the difference in the world. It was as if I had a different heli. I finally felt like I was in control. I then had the confidence to practice my hover skills in the wind. I eventually got to the point where I felt comfortable in winds up to 15 MPH. However...after ~90 hours of stick-time, I have yet to fly a circuit. I'm still hovering around. I decided to take it slow because I hate breaking stuff, but I think taking it that slow made me even more nervous about crashing - which prevented me from progressing beyond my comfort zone. Kinda goofy - given that my first few flights were way beyond my comfort zone, and I managed to get beyond that. I am finally just about comfortable enough to try flying some FFF circuits.

So, a few of us may have been quick to learn to hover, but we're much slower at getting the hang of forward flight.

I can tell that you want this badly. A strong desire and determination are the most important things to have when learning something new. You've got the most important part already.

Good luck with your HBFP V2 maiden!

Joel

Joel, thanks man. That was excellent. Would you share your BSR settings for your transmitter? What type of transmitter do you have? I have a DX6i. I do have a strong desire, but am running out of money.

Just my own experience, but I find my HBFPV2 very "mushy" and hard to control, as once it drifts off in a certain direction I don't seem to have enough throws on the controlls to correct it. I'm thinking of cutting the flybar shorter for more control? This is just a word of caution to newbheliusr, don't expect miracles on the first flight with it mate. Also, parts may be cheap, but you will need lots of them! Good luck mate, stick with it its fun, if it was easy it would be boring......cheaper, but boring!

Just my own experience, but I find my HBFPV2 very "mushy" and hard to control, as once it drifts off in a certain direction I don't seem to have enough throws on the controlls to correct it. I'm thinking of cutting the flybar shorter for more control? This is just a word of caution to newbheliusr, don't expect miracles on the first flight with it mate. Also, parts may be cheap, but you will need lots of them! Good luck mate, stick with it its fun, if it was easy it would be boring......cheaper, but boring!

Colin.

All I can do is my best. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. I do appreciate your advise though. Thank you.